


Alone together

by Lestrade_DI



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, M/M, Nonbinary Sherlock, Please Keep That In Mind, Rick is old and sherlock is underaged
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-22 01:20:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8267494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lestrade_DI/pseuds/Lestrade_DI
Summary: Sherlock is alone. He’s not just sometimes sitting alone or everyone is busy at the moment. No, he’s alone.
  John hates it. He’s always the new kid. The kid that gets into class halfway the school year. And just when he starts to make friends they’ll move again.





	1. Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Did I just seriously start yet another fic while i still have to finish three? Yes I did.

Sherlock is alone. He’s not just sometimes sitting alone or everyone is busy at the moment. No, he’s alone.

His mother is always at the company where she works, his father is out of the country for work most of the time and his brother’s at uni. There are maids at home but they’re always working and never have time for him.

He doesn’t really have any friends either. There are kids who put up with him sometimes because they have a project together. But after it’s done they always go back to ignoring him. So Sherlock spends every recess reading in the empty classroom. The teachers used to send him away but they eventually gave up since he’s not causing any trouble.

After school he walks home alone. Sometimes he takes a detour through the park. He looks at the kids playing together, the old couples walking hand in hand and the young ones making out on the benches that are hidden deep in the bushes. It doesn’t really makes him feel any better but it’s always better to sit in his room alone. He can tell so much more about these people then other people can.

She’s cheating on him with his best friend.

He’s planning on asking her out for dinner but he’s not sure she’ll like the restaurant he picked for them. She will.

The kid stole some candy from his mother and thinks she doesn’t know but she obviously does and will tell him off at home.

Sherlock sighs and makes his way home. He gets inside, slides out of his coat and kicks off his shoes. One of the maids greets him before getting back to work. Sherlock throws his bag in the corner of his room and sits down at his desk. He starts up his computer and a message pups up. He smiles and opens it.

'I hope you had a good day at school.' Is the message that pops up in the chatroom. He’s been chatting a lot with someone he met online. The guy’s name’s Rick and he messaged Sherlock once. Of course he ignored it at first but soon he got curious and he started to talk back. Rick appeared to be really good at listening to whatever Sherlock had to tell and he would often give him good advise. But most important, he makes Sherlock feel less alone. He makes him feel like theres someone who wants to listen to him and actually spends time with him.

‘Boring as usual.’ Sherlock send back. Even though the previous message has been send some hours ago Rick immediately responds.

‘Haven’t learned anything interesting?'

‘You must know by now that I don’t really learn anything at all there. It’s all just basic information I already know for quite a while.’ It’s true. Sherlock only goes to school because he has to. He spends all time sitting in the back of the class reading. He would make the tests with ease so the teachers don’t bother with him anymore. He’s not being a bother nor are his grades slacking.

‘Hahah well I have to start the conversation one way or another.’

‘How about we don’t talk about me. What have you been up to today?’ Sherlock asks and he spends the rest of the night chatting. It’s all they’ve been doing for the past couple of months. Just chatting. Never calling or video chat. And they’ve never met. Even though Sherlock secretly wants to. They already know that they both live in the middle of London but since neither of them knows what the other looks like they can’t find each other.

‘Can I ask you something?’ Rick then suddenly asks and Sherlock frowns. They were just chatting about random things. Nothing to serious.

‘Go ahead.’ Sherlock responds and he waits for an answer. With every second the knot in Sherlock’s stomach feels tighter.

‘Could you perhaps send a picture of yourself? I’m quite curious what you look like.’ The guy sends and Sherlock bites his bottom lip.

‘I don’t know…’ Sherlock wants to send but before he can hit enter another message pops up.

‘I can send one of myself first if that makes you feel better?’ He reads and he deletes his previous answer, replacing it with ‘Okay.’ and he presses send.

It takes a good 5 minutes before a picture appears in the chat. Sherlock clicks on it and the picture of a man appears. He has short black hair thats neatly combed back, green eyes and a gentle smile. He looks a lot older then Sherlock had imagined him to be.

‘I thought you said you were 25. You look older on the picture, no offense.’ Sherlock sends.

‘Truth to be told i’m not 25. I didn’t want to scare you off the first time we started talking because I figured the age gap would be bigger. I’m actually 36.’ Sherlock read the message and pulls up his knees. Why would he lie about something like that. Did he thought Sherlock would find him more boring if he is older? Sherlock rests his head on his knees and takes a deep breath. The sound of another message sounds on the computer and he looks up.

‘Are you mad at me?’ Is the message that appears and reaches out to the keyboard.

‘No, just a bit surprised.’

‘Thank god. I thought I had scarred you away.’

‘Is there anything else you haven’t been honest about?’ Sherlock types and his finger hoovers over the send button for a couple of seconds before he presses it.

‘No, it was just my age. Can you forgive me?'

Sherlock can feel the corners of his mouth twitch up for a second. ‘Of course.'

‘I’ve send you a picture of me. Do you still want to send a picture of yourself?'

Sherlock looks at the message. A picture of himself? He doesn’t even know if he has one. He looks around on his computer. The only pictures he has are some from his vacation to Italy. He scrolls through them till he finds one where he’s alone. It’s a picture of him sitting cross-legged on a beach bed. He’s wearing his swimming trunks and he looks up curious from his book because his mother had called him so he would look up for the photo.

Sherlock can’t find another picture of him since he hates posing for photo’s. He decides to send this one. He drags it over to the chatroom and presses send. It stays quiet for a long time and the tight feeling starts to reappear in Sherlock’s stomach. But it soon disappears when Rick finally sends something back.

‘You’re beautiful.’

That’s all it says. Sherlock can feel his cheeks getting warmer. No one, apart from his mother, has ever called him beautiful before. He knows it’s wrong since the age difference between them is bigger then he had thought it was but he feels so happy that Rick thinks he’s beautiful.

‘Thank you.’ Sherlock simply sends back.


	2. The new kid

John hates it. He’s always the new kid. The kid that gets into class halfway the school year. And just when he starts to make friends they’ll move again.

‘It’s the last time, promise!’ His mother always tells him. But it’s never the last time. She’ll get fired, replaced or gets a boyfriend which she’ll break up with a couple of weeks later and they have to move again. Sometimes he wishes he could live with his sister. She refused to come along and she got herself a house in Redhill. But on the other side, he doesn’t really like to sit in the scent of cigarettes and booze the whole day.

John looks up at the school building and sighs. He is already late on his first day because his mother insisted she’ll drop him off. But like usually she’s slow in the morning. John walks over the now empty playground and through the big doors. He looks around a gulps. He has no idea where he needs to be. He doesn’t see any signs telling him where the reception is and neither are there any signs on the doors. Just numbers. He starts walking through the empty hallways till he sees a guy. He’s a bit taller then John and has curly black hair. He’s getting books out of his locker as John walks up to him.

“Excuse me.” John says and the guy looks at him with a pair of beautiful blue eyes. John is a little taken aback but quickly collects his words. “I… uhm.. Well i’m new here. I was wondering if you could help me find my classroom.” He asks as polite as possible. The guy seems older then him so he should be at least a class higher.

"What class are you in?" The guy asks in a voice that sends shivers down John's spine. He looks down at the crumbled letter he got from his mother. "Uh.. 2B" he says not really sure wether its the correct number or not.

The guy closed his locker and says "Thats the same class as me." Before he turns around and walks away. John looks confused and then walks after him. Before he could say anything the guy speaks again.

"We got biology first.” The guy says as if he knew John was following him without looking behind him.

“Oh great thanks!” John says and he smiles. “My name is John, and you are?” He looks curious at the guy but he doesn’t look his way. Instead he just responds with “Sherlock.” before walking in the classroom. John follows him and looks around. It doesn’t seem like class has started yet since everyone was still grabbing their stuff and talking with each other. John walks over to the teacher to hand her the note and he soon is standing in front of the class to introduce himself. After changing schools so many times he has gotten used to this.

He just tells them his name, his age, what previous school he has on and his hobbies. In the meantime he looks around the class. Most people are listening to him but then his eyes fall on the guy in the back. It’s Sherlock, and he’s reading a book. It doesn’t even look like he’s listening to John at all.

“Well John, welcome to the class. You can sit wherever you like.” The teacher says and some people took their bags off the chairs next to them, as an invitation for him to sit next to them. But John has already decided where he wants to sit. He walks all the way to the back of the class and sits down next to Sherlock. The taller boy looks up from his book with a confused expression and John just smiles. John looks up at everyone who is also looking confused at him, even the teacher. But then she claps her hands to get the class’s attention and starts the lesson.

John looks at Sherlock who has now returned his attention to his book. He leans in slightly and whisper. “Do you perhaps got a book for me? Haven’t got mine yet.” Sherlock just reached into his bag without looking away from his book and pulls out his biology book. He places it on the table in front of John. “Thanks.” John says a bit awkward. Apparently he’s not really a talker. John looks down at the book as he thinks of something to say. Just when he thinks of something the sound of something buzzing is heard. It’s soft and no one else seems to notice it. Sherlock suddenly puts down his book and takes his phone out of his pocket. He looks at it and then stands up and walks out of the class.

None of the students nor the teacher seem to mind and John leans back in his chair. He looks over to Sherlock’s place and sees the book he was reading. Out of curiosity he grabs it and looks at the cover. “Organic Chemistry…?” John mumbles to himself and he looks through the book. It looks difficult. John had chemistry for two years now and he isn’t really bad at it but nothing in this book seems familiar to him.

When the door of the classroom opens again John panics and puts the book under the table. Sherlock walks in, says something to the teacher and then walks back to his seat. But instead of sitting down he gathers his stuff and puts on his coat.

“Are you leaving?” John asked, sounding a bit more disappointed then he wanted. But Sherlock is the only one he knows in this school right now and he had hoped he could sit with him for lunch. Sherlock just nods in return and leaves the room. John couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the day. All he could do is stare at the book.


	3. Just be yourself

Sherlock is so nervous he can feel himself getting sick. Rick called him in class. They had exchanged numbers but he said he would never call without asking permission first. But now he had called and he asked if Sherlock wants to meet up. He had explained it would be better during the day since most people would be at work or school. Sherlock had agreed without thinking about it twice and he made a bullshit excuse to the teacher that one of his family members is in the hospital.

And now he’s making his way over to the mall. There’s a big knot in his stomach and he starts to feel dizzy. He has never met him in real life before. He agreed with himself that he never would. That it could be dangerous. But here he is. And it feels a bit scary but its also exiting.

He walks in the mall and looks around. Rick was right, not many people were around at this time of the day. Sherlock makes his way to the benches and sits down. He finds himself slightly shaking and he takes a deep breath.

It’ll be fine. He keeps telling himself. We’ll just meet up and talk. We’ve done this a million times online so why would it be any different today.

He looks down at this feed and takes another deep breath. His string of thoughts got interrupted when a pair of feet appear in his field of vision. He looks up and his breath gets stuck in his throat. Rick is standing in front of him with a gentle smile on his face. Sherlock stares at him without saying anything and then he quickly stands up.

“Hey Sherlock.” He says and Sherlock finally lets his breath escape. He sounds different on the phone, more gentle. Sherlock looks him all over.

Just got back from work. Also made an excuse to leave. Slightly nervous but he hides it well. He freshened himself up before he got here but he had no time to get lunch yet.

“Hey…” Sherlock almost whispers. They look each other in the eyes for a couple of seconds before Rick raises his hand and strokes a lock of hair out of Sherlock’s face. Sherlock freezes and just lets it happen.

“You look even more beautiful in real life.” He says and Sherlock feels his cheeks heat up. He quickly looks the other way and clears his throat. “Shall we take a walk?” Sherlock asks, trying to control his voice. The man nods and they start to walk around the mall. Neither of them said anything but Sherlock likes it. He isn’t really fond of small talk so he’s glad when Rick didn’t start about the weather or school. They are just walking side by side when Rick’s hand just softly brushes against Sherlock’s. Sherlock jumps and quickly puts his hands in his pockets. He looks over to Rick who is just looking around the mall. Sherlock keeps looking at him for a while until the older man suddenly turns his head.

“You wanna grab some lunch?” He asks and Sherlock keeps looking at him.

“I didn’t brought any money.” He says and Rick smiles.

“That’s okay. It’s on me."

“No it’s fine!” Sherlock says quickly. “I’m not even that hungry.” And just when he said that his stomach starts to rumble. He wraps his arms around his stomach and he starts to blush. Rick laughs and he puts an hand on Sherlock back. Sherlock feels a shiver going through his body and he looks once again up to meet the older man’s eyes.

“Let’s get some food in you okay.” He says with a gentle smile and Sherlock gives him a small smile back. They walk over to a nearby restaurant and Rick keeps his hand on Sherlock’s back. Sherlock knows he should say something about it. Shake him off or take a step away. But it feels good. It feels safe, like he’s not alone.

Rick orders them both some food and he managed to get Sherlock to eat it all. They have picked a seat all the way in the back of an empty restaurant. There are only three other people in it. A young couple in the front and a older man a couple of tables away from them. Rick is sitting with his back to the rest of the room and Sherlock is sitting across from him, looking at the people.

Sherlock can feel Rick’s feet touching his and he turns his gaze to him. He’s smiling and looking at him. Sherlock smiles back and takes a sip of his tea.

After lunch they continue to walk through the mall. Sherlock looks at the different kind of clothes stores they pass. Summer is coming up so the shop-windows are filled with colorful shirt, skirts and dresses. Sherlock stops in front of one of the windows and looks at the different outfits. His eyes fall on a mannequin that’s wearing a light blue crop top with a drawing of a bee on it and a short, black round skirt.

“You want to try it on?” Rick suddenly says while standing next to him. Sherlock looks up confused. Rick is also looking at the outfit and he’s smiling. “I think it would look really cute on you.” He turns his head to Sherlock who starts to blush again. Sherlock walks into the shop without saying anything and looks around. Rick follows him and looks how the boy is looking through the clothes for the right sizes. Once he got the outfit together he looks unsure.Rick steps up to him and places a hand on his shoulder.

“Go ahead and try it on.” He says and Sherlock looks up at him before making his way over to the changing rooms. Before he goes in he looks over his shoulder to see Rick leaning against the wall opposite of him. He gets inside and starts changing. He looks at himself in the mirror and takes a deep breath. It doesn’t look particularly bad on him. Just a bit…. off…

“You’re already done changing?” Rick asks from the other side of the curtain.

“Yea but i’m not sure…"

“Can I see?"

Sherlock gulps and takes a step back, so his back is hitting the wall. “Yea…” He says softly and not much later the curtain is shoved aside. Rick’s eyes gets slightly bigger and he softly mumbles ‘wow’.

Sherlock looks in the mirror again and then to his feet. “I like it but I don’t know if I should wear it… People will talk.” He sits down on the small stool. Rick closes the curtain behind him and kneels down, looking Sherlock in the eyes. His hand is resting on Sherlock’s bare knee.

“People will always talk. You shouldn’t care about them and do whatever makes you happy.” Sherlock looks up slowly while Rick continues. “If you really like this I will be happy to buy it for you."

“Why…?” Sherlock asks and the familiar smile appears on the older mans face again.

“Because I want you to be happy. And if this makes you happy then I want you to have it."

Sherlock just stares at him. No one ever talked to him like this. Of course his parents bought him stuff but this is different. It feels different. Sherlock leans forward and puts his arms around Rick’s neck, pulling him in for a hug.

“Thank you.” He whispers and Rick hugs him back.


	4. Chapter 4

When John unlocks the front door and walks in its completely silent in the apartment. He drops his jacket and tips off his shoes before walking over to the kitchen. There’s a note on the fridge that reads ‘I’m home later. Order some food for yourself. X mom’ There is a ten pound bill attached to the note.

John sighs and puts his bag on the table. He fixes himself a cup of tea and sits down. He takes his notebook out of his bag and he can see Sherlock’s book. He still wonders why the boy had to leave so suddenly. Maybe something bad had happened? John puts the book on the table and starts on his homework.

Around 6pm John was starting to get hungry so he grabs the phone and calls the Chinese of which his mother left a folder behind. He orders something and then makes his way over to the living room. He turns on the tv and stares at it till his food arrives.

After dinner he spends a couple more hours watching tv before he decides to go to bed. His mother is still not home and John figures she won’t for another couple of hours.

~

John arrives at school a bit to early this time and he makes his way over to the cafeteria. To his surprise Sherlock’s already there. He’s sitting in the far left corner, reading another book. John walks up to him and sits down across from him. Sherlock doesn’t even look up from his book.

“Morning.” John says and he finally has the boys attention. John takes out Sherlock books out of his bag and hands them over to Sherlock. “Thanks for letting me borrow your biology book. And you forgot your other book yesterday.”

Sherlock stares at the books before putting them in his own bag. “Thanks.” He murmurs and he picks up his other book to continue reading.

“I was wondering…” John starts and Sherlock lowers his book once again while sighing. “You had to leave so quickly yesterday. Did something happen?”

Sherlock stares at him for a while before coldly replying “No.”

“Oh thank god.” John says with a smile. “I was kind of worried."

“Worried?” Sherlock asks confused. “Why would you be worried? You don’t even know me."

“Well would you mind if I get to know you?” John asks and he leans on the table, looking at Sherlock. Sherlock blinks a couple of times while looking at John.

“Why would you?” Sherlock asks. To John’s surprise Sherlock’s voice sounds softer. Almost insecure. So John puts on a big smile. “Well I think you’re interesting and I like to know you better.”

Sherlock puts his book on the table and just when he wants to say something the bell rings. He sighs, packs his things and gets up. When Sherlock walks away John also gets up. “Wait! I.. uhm..” He starts and Sherlock turns around. “We got math, and yes you can borrow my book.” He says and John smiles before following the taller guy towards the classroom.


	5. Who are you?

“You’re home is huge!” John says as he takes off his jacket. He and Sherlock have been getting along well and Sherlock has invited John to his home to make a group project together. John was glad Sherlock asked him because his mother once again found a boyfriend and there was a high chance that John would find them snogging on the couch and he is really not in the mood for that.

“It’s a bit to big to be honest.” Sherlock makes his way over to the kitchen. “Tea?” He asks while he already grabs to mugs.

“Yes please.” John says and he sits down at the table. He looks around while Sherlock makes them both a cup and sits down across from him.

“Where are your parents?” John asks as he wraps his fingers around the cup. Even though it’s almost summer it’s still cold outside.

“At work.” Sherlock simply says and he takes a sip of his tea.

“Are they at work a lot?"

“Do you always ask so many question?"

“I do when I’m curious.” John grins and leans on the table. Sherlock smiles for just a second but then he takes a sip of his tea. Trying to hide it. But John saw it and is still smiling.

To John’s surprise they finished the project that day. Sherlock seems to know a lot about biology. Well actually about any subject at school since John has never seen the boy use any of his books or even pay attention in class. He’s always on his phone or reading. Sometimes he would help John if he doesn’t understand something and other times they would both ignore the class completely and pass on notes between one other.

It has began to storm and Sherlock walks over to the window, looking outside. John packs his stuff and looks over at their project. “Can we leave it at your house? I don’t want it to get wet on my way home.” Says John and Sherlock turns around.

“I don’t think you should go outside in this weather.” Sherlock says and John frowns. “Why not? I need to get home somehow.” He joins Sherlock next to the window and looks outside. It is storming pretty hard.

“If you want you can stay here for the night.” Sherlock suddenly says and John turns to him. To be fair John didn’t want to go home so he was glad when Sherlock made the offer. “We could call your mom and explain the situation. I’m sure she’ll be fine with it."

John nods and takes out his phone. He doesn’t even call his mother, he just sends a quick text that he’s sleeping at a friends house. She’s probably to busy to pick up the phone anyway. He waits a couple of seconds and pretends he received a reply before smiling. “It’s okay.” He says to Sherlock who frowns but then shrugs and walks out of the room. “Lets get you a place to sleep. Dinner should be ready soon."

They get upstairs and Sherlock tells one of the maids, John still can’t believe Sherlock has maids!, that John will be here till tomorrow. Sherlock walks over to his room and John looks around. Sherlock’s room was empty. No poster or photo’s on the walls. No books or clothes laying on the floor. Just a big bed in the corner, a desk with a open laptop and some papers, a big bookcase, a closet, a tv on a small table at the end of his bed and a big comfortable looking chair facing the window.

Sherlock walks over to his bed and pulls a smaller bed from underneath it. It already has a duvet and Sherlock grabs one of the pillows from his own bed and drops it on John’s.

John drops his stuff next to his bed and they get back down for dinner. Sherlock’s parents are still not home so it is just the two of them. It is quiet during dinner. Neither of them said a word but somehow John didn’t matter. It isn’t awkward nor uncomfortable. After dinner they went back upstairs.

“I’m going to take a shower real quick. Just make yourself at home.” Sherlock says as he hands John a shirt to sleep in before walking to the bathroom. John changes and looks around the room. Just when he walks over to the bookcase to take a look at Sherlock’s books the laptop makes a sound. John looks over to it but then shrugs and puts his attention back to the books. Not much later the laptop makes another sound, and another. Just short peeping sounds. John curiously walks over to the laptop and looks at it. A chat program was blinking in the bottom left corner.

John looks over his shoulder as if someone was in the room. But Sherlock would be away for a little longer. John bites his bottom lip as he looks back at the screen. He clicks on the blinking program and a chatroom appears in the screen. There are five new messages.

‘Sherlock are you home?'  
‘You haven’t said anything since yesterday morning. Are you okay?'  
‘You didn’t tell anyone did you?'  
‘You know what can happen if you tell anyone about us.'  
‘Sherlock please respond.' 

John frowns. Tell anyone? Who is this person? He reaches out to the keyboard and without thinking he sends:

‘Who are you?'

The person goes offline immediately. John scrolls back up a bit more and reads some of the messages. He notices that this person calls Sherlock beautiful multiple times. He scrolls up more and sees a picture of Sherlock. He looks like he’s sitting at his desk. The picture is taken from above and he’s wearing a crop top with a bee and a black skirt. The picture is taken so you can’t see his face. Underneath it is the text ‘It’s still my favorite outfit. Thank you.'

John blinks a couple of times. Sherlock in a skirt? John can’t remember Sherlock telling him anything about being trans or anything else. He decides to not think to much of it and scrolls further up. There is another picture of Sherlock. It looks like a vacation picture since Sherlock is sitting on a beach bed, only wearing swimming trunks. Again this person replied on it with that Sherlock’s beautiful. When he scrolls up a bit more theres a picture thats not from Sherlock. It’s from the other person. It’s the picture of an older man. John can feel himself getting sick and he closes the program.

Just when he sits down on the bed Sherlock walks in. “Sorry it took so long.” Sherlock says while still drying off his hair. He’s wearing an oversized shirt and black pants. John could see the picture of Sherlock in that black skirt in his mind and he shakes his head. “It’s fine.” He says.

Sherlock puts the towel over his chair and turns to John. “It’s still early. You want to watch a movie?” He asks and he makes his way over the bookcase. He kneels down in front of the row of dvd’s. John walks over to him and kneels down next to him. “Sounds fun, whatcha got?” He says while looking at the dvd’s. Trying to keep his mind of what he just saw.


End file.
